Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a)
The Commissioner and the Site Improvement Advisory Board as a matter of policy
recognize the need for preservation and/or enhancement of community character
in New Jersey municipalities. This section is intended to provide a procedure
whereby a municipal approving authority may develop and recommend to the Board
supplementary and/or alternative standards in the form of municipal ordinances
for review and amendment to this chapter. The Site Improvement Advisory Board
shall solicit the input of the Department of Environmental Protection, the
Office of Smart Growth, and the Department of Transportation, and may solicit
input from public or private organizations and individuals as it deems
appropriate during the process of review of special area standards.
(b) A special area designation may be applied
by ordinance by a municipality or group of municipalities to an area or areas
of a municipality or municipalities exhibiting or planned to exhibit a
distinctive character or environmental feature that the municipality or
municipalities by ordinance have identified and expressed a desire to preserve
and enhance. Examples of a special area may include:
1. Designated redevelopment areas pursuant to
40A:12A-1 et seq.;
2. Designated special improvement districts
pursuant to
40:56-65 et seq.;
3. Designated historic districts pursuant to
40:55D-65.1;
4. Municipalities in the Metropolitan
Planning Area (Planning Area 1), and Regional Centers, villages, hamlets, or
other Centers identified by the State Development and Redevelopment Plan or
designated by the State Planning Commission;
5. Infill areas in urban settings;
6. Planned unit and planned unit residential
developments, and residential clusters pursuant to
40:55D-39;
7. Areas where environmental systems such as
watersheds may require special environmental controls;
8. Designated scenic corridors, pursuant to
the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act or other similar State or
local initiatives; and
9. Rural
preservation areas including, but not limited to, designated Agricultural
Development Areas, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:1C, and in support of the rural
preservation policies of the State Development and Redevelopment
Plan.
(c) The Site
Improvement Advisory Board shall consider at its regular or specially-scheduled
public meetings special area standards submitted for approval by or on behalf
of a municipality or municipalities. The following procedures shall govern the
review of special area standards submitted for approval:
1. Upon receipt of an application for
approval of special area standards conforming to (e) below, the Department of
Community Affairs, on behalf of the Board, shall prepare and file with the
Office of Administrative Law, for publication in the New Jersey Register, a
notice of receipt of the application, including a summary of its contents. Any
such notice shall conform to the requirements applicable to petitions for rules
set forth at N.J.A.C. 5:2-2. The notice shall indicate the time and place of
any meeting that is to be held to consider the application and shall also
indicate the address and telephone number at which persons may contact the
Department in order to be placed on lists that the Department shall use to keep
interested persons informed as to the status of any specific application or of
special area standards applications generally.
i. The application shall be accompanied by
proof of publication by the municipality, in its official newspaper, of either
a copy of the application or a summary of its contents. If the municipality
does not publish the full text of the application, it shall include in the
published notice a statement that interested persons may review a copy of the
application that is on file in the office of the municipal clerk, and may
purchase copies of the application in accordance with the New Jersey
Right-to-Know law,
47:1A-1.1 et seq., and that
information concerning the date of any meeting at which the application will be
considered will be available in the office of the municipal clerk once that
determination has been made.
2. Upon receipt of an application for
approval of special area standards, the Department, with the concurrence of the
chairperson of the Board, shall refer the application to the appropriate Board
committee. The committee shall consider the application at a meeting held at
least 15 days following publication of notice of the application in the New
Jersey Register. Notice of such meeting shall be sent to the municipal clerk
and to all known parties in interest. The committee shall recommend such action
to the Board as it may deem appropriate.
3. A notice of the action recommended by the
committee, including the text of any recommended special area standards, shall
be forwarded by the Department to the Office of Administrative Law for
publication in the New Jersey Register as a public notice. The notice, copies
of which shall be sent to the municipal clerk and to all known parties in
interest, shall include the time and place of the meeting of the Board at which
the application and the committee's recommendations thereon shall be
considered.
i. Upon receipt of the notice, the
municipality shall publish a copy of the notice in its official
newspaper.
4. Prior to
making a decision on any application for special area standards, the Board
shall hold a public hearing at which all interested persons shall be given an
opportunity to testify and to present their views, both orally and in writing.
A taped record shall be made of all statements made at the hearing, which
record shall be made available by the Department to interested persons upon
request. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board shall either take action
on the application or schedule the matter for further consideration at its next
meeting. Any Board decision shall be by formal resolution. Notice of any Board
decision shall be published in the New Jersey Register.
5. The Board and any of its committees shall
meet at least monthly when any application for approval of special area
standards is ripe for action before them.
(d) The Site Improvement Advisory Board shall
review special area standards submitted for approval if:
1. The special area is delineated on the
zoning map, adopted redevelopment plan, special improvement district ordinance,
Center designation petition, or other duly authorized ordinance of the
municipality or municipalities;
2.
The special area is incorporated into the municipality's master plan;
3. Site improvement standards for use in the
special area are consistent with the purposes of this chapter, deviations from
the standards are identified, and a rationale is provided for each such
deviation; and
4. Site improvement
standards for use in the special area are set forth in an ordinance or draft
ordinance that has been referred to the Board for approval by resolution of the
municipal governing body. Municipalities may submit their existing codes and
plans to satisfy these requirements; provided, however, that no ordinance
setting forth special area standards shall be effective unless and until it is
approved by the Board.
(e) The application of the municipality for
Site Improvement Advisory Board approval of its special area standards shall
consist of:
1. A resolution of the governing
body as described in (b) above;
2.
The standards;
3. A copy of the
ordinance, or of the draft ordinance and supporting resolution, adopting the
standards;
4. An identification and
narrative rationale for the deviations from the standards of this chapter;
and
5. Any maps, exhibits, or
supporting documentation.
(f) Developers, nonprofit groups, and other
agencies may submit applications for special area status on behalf of the
municipalities if duly authorized by the municipal governing body.
(g) The Site Improvement Advisory Board's
decision on municipal special area standards shall be rendered in
writing.
(h) The Site Improvement
Advisory Board shall incorporate into its annual review of this chapter a
review of approved municipal special area standards and shall recommend to the
Commissioner any appropriate changes in the rules (see
40:55D-40.4(d)
).
(i) The Site Improvement
Advisory Board may approve or deny, in whole or in part, special area standards
submitted for consideration by a municipality or municipalities.
(j) The Site Improvement Advisory Board's
review is limited in scope to those areas within its purview pursuant to
40:55D-40.4, that is streets,
off-street parking, water supply, sanitary sewers, and stormwater management in
the context of residential development.
(k) The Board's review of a municipal special
area standards ordinance shall be based on the following criteria. Standards
set forth in an ordinance submitted for review by the Board:
1. Shall be consistent with the intent of the
Site Improvement Standards Act,
2.
Shall be reasonable and not unduly burdensome,
3. Shall meet the needs of public health and
safety, and
4. Shall take into
account existing infrastructure and surrounding development
possibility.
(l) A developer whose
application is complete on or before the date of approval of a special area
standard shall have the option of complying with that standard or complying
with the standard in effect prior to the date of approval of the special area
standard.
